Ecter Identity Masterpost
Ecters, originally coined with its alternative name Menre, was first created by me in 2022 here. Not all information about it on the original post is entirely accurate anymore, so an updated explanation is in order!
A page for ecter identity can be found on Neocities.
[1] What's Ecter Identity?
Ecter Identity, also called Menre, refers to identities and identity systems that are outside the boundaries of "gender" entirely. It's comparable to something like nonbinary is for the gender binary, except it is outside of gender itself. It's a huge umbrella term that can contain countless identification systems and unique experiences, each one capable of being just as varied and expansive as gender is. Someone might have their own, standalone gender identity, or they might experience identity in a specific ecter system.
Ecter and gender aren't a binary. Ecter is anything outside of gender and is a massive catch-all, not one single standalone experience / identity system.
This can be a really difficult concept to understand. It opens the door to the idea that gender itself can have a vast realm of identity outside of it, while still filling a somewhat similar niche. Some ecters might feel similar in concept to gender identity, while others might be entirely different in a variety of ways, with no similarities to how gender is perceived or experienced.
Ecter comes from ect- which means outside, and -er, the same ending as gender. Broadly, this translates to "outside [of] gender." Menre, meanwhile, is taken from genre, and should be pronounced similarly (mahn-rah, not mehn-rey.) Ecter is intentionally meant to sound somewhat similar to gender, while menre is meant to be more general. Ecter can be used the same way gender is, conjugation-wise; ie, ecter identity, ecters, ectered, and so on.
Ecter Systems refers to ecters within their own self-contained bubble, often with their own "rules," identification, and experiences. They can be considered their own standalone equivalents to gender identity. If you made something called "Lender," which is its own system of identification outside of gender, with its own set of identities and experiences... then it would be an ecter system.
The best way of understanding this is to imagine a separate society from humankind. They're a species with their own equivalent identities that are different from gender. There's a series of experiences commonly associated with these identities, and the way it works might be entirely different from gender identity. These individuals would have ecters; crucially, the term given to their specific identity system (let's say they call it "milliah," or something) would be an ecter system. So to put it another way, "ecter systems" refers to self-contained bubbles that are their own equivalent to "gender," whereas "ecter" itself is the catch-all term for everything outside of gender identity, regardless of if it's in a defined system or not.
Another way of thinking about it is galaxies. "Gender" is our Milky Way, and everything outside of it is "Ecter." Different galaxies, like Andromeda, are ecter systems, having its own orbit and different star / planet / etc. systems. Some ecters, like rogue planets, float around freely in space, not tied to any galaxy at all.
Ecter identities do not need to be in an ecter system in order to exist; plenty of them can be on their own, independently and not in any kind of system, sort of like how some people just use "nonbinary" or "queer" without any further specification.
Important to note that two ecter systems are usually just as separate from each other as ecters and genders, besides the fact that neither one is gender. No two ecters have to be alike, and ecter systems are not all universally connected to each other. Going back to the space analogy, being in one "galaxy" does not mean you're connected to all the others. You can make ecter systems that are tied to each other, but unless explicitly stated, you should assume that they're independent to themselves.
This is a really simple way of visualizing it. As you can see, everything outside of the green circle / border would be considered ecters, but ecter systems are their own self-contained bubbles that are different equivalents to gender.
Some examples of ecters that already exist are kenocter, cybecter, and ecterfluid, all of which I made myself. Any ecters I've seen or made can be found in this tag.
Ecter was partly made to describe nonhuman characters and species that I thought would have their own unique equivalents to gender, while existing completely outside of it. I also think it could be considered useful to a variety of nonhuman and alterhuman individuals, who might not subscribe to the concept of "gender identity" and experience something outside of those bounds. That being said, ecter was made as a concept for absolutely anybody to use.
If this still confuses you, you can always ask me about it directly and I'll try to word it differently as many times as you need. :)
